Seen Presents. Get Ready to Reconnect : Live Experience Post Covid-19

Seen Presents. Get Ready to Reconnect : Live Experience Post Covid-19

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  GET READY TORECONNECT: LIVE EXPERIENCE POST COVID-19
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  INTRODUCTION GET READY TORECONNECT : LIVE EXPERIENCE POST COVID-19 There’s no denying that the Covid-19 pandemic has been one of the most impactful events to happen to society within most of our living memories. During the lockdown period, people have turned to digital services to fill the important gap that social events usually hold in their lives, with innovative approaches being deployed to connect people and places during the pandemic. However, digital solutions can only go so far in replicating physical connections; so as we move into a post-lockdown world, we can hopefully start to look forward to a time when we can come together again face to face. As we start to emerge from a period of socially-distanced isolation, we believe that the role of experiential marketing has never been more crucial, as people look to reconnect in the post lockdown world. As the country starts to open up again, brands need to ensure that they’re primed and ready to create and deliver consumer experiences that drive real impact. So our report is designed to equip you with the knowledge and tools to reconnect with your audience in the real world! 2
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  / 6 GET READY TORECONNECT! • Why invest in Experiential when budgets are tight? • Meeting the needs of the ‘new’ consumer o Consumer attitudes – emotion and authenticity o New experiences o Environmental sensitivity • Digital integration • Driving reach and delivering results • Key take outs GetReadytoReconnect Startingquestions 3 CONTENTS
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  / 3 _ Experiential marketing canrequire greater investment than other channels, however it’s important to assess the value that a live experience can provide for your brand and consumer beyond the event itself. Live experiences deliver a great opportunity for brands to create a human connection and two way dialogue with their audience. After months spent indoors (and likely glued to a screen!), experiential campaigns will provide a chance for consumers to get offline and get interactive with their favourite brands once again. So how can you maximise that opportunity? WHY INVEST IN EXPERIENTIAL WHEN BUDGETS ARE TIGHT? CONVERSE, RENEW WRAY & NEPHEW, WRAY RESIDENCIES TOMMEE TIPPEE, SLEEPFEST
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  HOW TO MEETTHE NEEDS OF THE ‘NEW’ CONSUMER Covid-19 has had an impact on the way consumers react to brand messages. Studies conducted into the changing public attitudes during the Covid-19 pandemic show that people are responding better to messages which appeal to right brain thinking - expressive, creative, feelings led. Experiential campaigns provide the opportunity to connect with consumers on this interactive level and build dialogue about how your brand can best serve their changing needs. How can you best harness the power of emotion driven messaging? CONVERSE, RENEW 5
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  CONSUMER ATTITUDES _ In order toget ready to reconnect it is key to understand how your consumer is thinking and feeling about the world around them. This allows you to understand how your consumers may be feeling about your brand and the types of experiences that will engage them. EMOTION The Coronavirus tracking study by System1 (accessible here) looks at how consumers react to different marketing messages during the pandemic. The findings demonstrated that during the lockdown period, brand messages which focused on feelings of connectedness and community outperformed those which were product focused and included a hard sell. DESIGN When designing an event which speaks to the new audience mindset it’s important to appeal to the right hand ‘feelings’ side of the brain, by creating events that are imaginative, interactive and immersive. To do this you could create an event which gives your audience the opportunity to participate in a workshop which has relevance for your brand, where guests can learn a new skill or craft. Rather than delivering a showcase of your product (factual, left-brain), you are connecting your brand with your audience’s passions and interests (emotion, right- brain). 6
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  HARNESSING THE POWEROF EMOTION THE HOXTON SOUTHWARK To launch the newest hotel from The Hoxton we needed to engage two communities. Firstly, the local community, to encourage them to use the hotel’s beautiful restaurants and bars as social spaces. And secondly The Hoxton’s international community, to demonstrate why Southwark was a vibrant destination to visit. To do this, we appealed to our audience’s creative side, curating a month-long program of covetable events which included workshops, talks, dining experiences and parties across fashion, beauty, music and sport. All the events were hosted in the hotel’s spaces and were delivered by local collaborators. This allowed us to engage our audience with Southwark as a destination and position The Hoxton hotel at the heart of the community. Creating reasons for guests to visit the hotel without needing to deliver a hard sell. The Botanis t 7
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  / 7 AUTHENTICITY In times ofuncertainty, consumers will be looking for transparency and authenticity in the brands they connect with. So how brands behaved during and how they behave immediately after the pandemic will influence how consumers feel about them beyond that. Consumers are favouring brands that are actively shown to be giving back to the community, for example lending resources, providing entertainment with free content or delivering services. The fashion industry provides one example of how brands used their resources for good with The Armani Group and Prada, amongst others, producing PPE for health workers from their disused factories. Whilst consumers understand that not all brands could provide specific help or resources during the pandemic, they will be highly aware of and their opinions will be affected by, brand behaviour post Covid-19. One example of a brand who gets this right is Wray & Nephew. Wray’s Residencies are a series of hyper-local gigs. The gigs are hosted in underfunded community spaces and feature a mix of up and coming and established artists from Jamaican British Urbanite neighbourhoods. IMPLICATION FOR EXPERIENTIAL The trend will be for community led events which engage people on a local level and provide a benefit for local communities through entertainment, services or resources. We ensure that everything from the catering to the staffing is sourced locally, with proceeds from the event being donated to a charity of the headline artist’s choice, ensuring that the event directly benefits the community it sits in. AUTHENTICITY IN ACTION WRAY & NEPHEW
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  _ Having spent monthsindoors people will be eager to get out and try new experiences. Whilst the desire during the isolation period was for brands to entertain and reassure, in the recovery phase people will crave innovation and excitement. Brands should prepare to meet the needs of consumers who are looking to transition away from the doom and gloom of time indoors away from loved ones. By providing fresh, exciting and innovative events which actively work to connect people. NEW EXPERIENCES The trend will be for innovative and immersive events which engage the senses. As people have had their world shrunk during their time in isolation it will be important to bring your brand to life through varied, sensorial experiences - sights, sounds, tastes and scents should all be considered. Showing rather than telling will remain key and we expect to see a desire to re-engage with physical, rather than digital experiences. IMPLICATION FOR EXPERIENTIAL 9
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  ENGAGING NEW EXPERIENCES NIKETRAINING CLUB Our aim was to encourage a female audience to come together and exercise, whilst also bringing to life the digital experience of Nike’s home workout app in the real world. We wanted to inspire attendees by creating unusual group classes in truly extraordinary locations across London. Over the course of week we orchestrated 19 workout events for women at iconic London spaces, including ‘Spin at the top of the Gherkin’, ‘Yoga in the Orbit’ and ‘Paddle boarding in the Olympic pool’. The incredible settings ensured that the classes engaged all of the senses. The group classes also encouraged a sense of community amongst N+TC app users, who typically completed the workouts alone at home or at a gym. The unique nature of these experiences drove phenomenal interest with over 3,500 women applying for the 19 classes! So we created a bonus super-scale N+TC class at the prestigious One Mayfair for 1,000 attendees which was a totally new experience!
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  IMPLICATION FOR EXPERIENTIAL Initiallywe expect brand events will be hosted on a small scale. In-store and pop-up experiences enable brands to respond to consumer demand for events, but allow them to interact with their audience in a controlled environment. Social distancing best practice should continue to be implemented and brands should actively integrate additional safety measures, to ensure guest safety and to rebuild consumer confidence in attending events. ENVIRONMENTAL SENSITIVITY When designing a live experience post Covid-19 it is important to consider how your audience will respond to groups and spaces. Learnt behaviours about social distancing will not immediately subside and events will need to be mindful of this in their design. Bright, open spaces should be integrated to reduce nervousness around group settings. Set design should focus on clean lines and simple layouts which construct a feeling of cleanliness and order. Whilst we expect to see the desire for shared experiences reignited there will be a desire for resources to be kept individual, with the hygiene practices implemented during the pandemic maintained. 11
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  / 7 DIGITAL INTEGRATION Whilst wehave seen a rise in digital events, a digital solution cannot replicate the emotional feeling you get from interacting at a live event. Post Covid-19 it will be key for brands to consider how technology is complementary to the physical experience and how it can be used to extend the impact of small scale events. One way of integrating technology could be to maximise the reach of a live experience, by using the event as a platform to create engaging brand content. Consider using content from the event as part of a live stream or podcast and create opportunities for people to engage in micro-events, such as Q&A’s or digital workshops across brand channels. IMPLICATION FOR EXPERIENTIAL During lockdown consumer interaction with digital platforms has changed. Digital interaction has become the norm, with adoption rates for services such as Zoom now being five years ahead of forecast with a massive 1900% increase in users between December ‘19 and March ’20, as people are finding new ways to work and socialise online. When integrating tech into a live event it is important to reconsider which digital platforms your audience are now using and what they are using them for. The trend for increased consumer interaction with digital platforms is expected to continue. For brands it will be important to consider these changing attitudes to technology and look for ways to further integrate digital within live experiences. Consider the uptake in digital as an opportunity, rather than a challenge, by embracing the digital technologies that your audience are new familiar with and look at ways this can help interact with people beyond the event space. TEAMLAB, JAPAN 12
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  HOW TO DRIVEREACH AND DELIVER RESULTS In times of economic downturn it has been shown that the brands who maintain or increase their marketing activity see more positive results after the recession ends. Post Covid-19 the most successful brands are anticipated to be those who continue a dialogue with their audience, are seen to be agile and who plan to meet changing consumer needs once the recovery period commences. So how do you best drive the reach of an experiential campaign and what measurement tools can you use to demonstrate the positive impact of a live event? PINTEREST, AWARDS 13
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  DRIVE REACH &DELIVER RESULTS As each experience is different there are no set metrics to measure the success of a live event. Due to this, tracking the impact that a live event has on brand perception and sales can often be overlooked. Whilst we know that getting hands on with audiences is key, having connected data to prove this internally can help secure a budget for future (bigger and better!) activations. NO.1 PROVE VALUE TO INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS As a medium, experiential is unrivalled in its ability to create a personal connection between the brand and consumer. However live activations do require greater investment than other channels and therefore it is crucial to ensure that your live event proves its value. There are a number of tools which can be implemented to prove the success of a live event, and also to ensure that the reach of the campaign stretches beyond the live experience. The tools used for each event should be personalised to the campaign objectives, but can deliver the following outcomes. NO.2 SOCIAL LISTENING Live events provide an opportunity for a two way conversation between brand and consumer, creating the chance for brands to obtain feedback from their audience. Social listening can happen live at the event or can be captured across social media channels by monitoring the conversation around event content. NO.3 CALCULATE REACH Whilst the live experience can directly touch a set number of people, an event provides an opportunity for rich content capture, which can be widely shared across other channels. It is important to monitor the reach of the campaign across PR and social channels to determine the additional value that the experience delivered. 14
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  MAXIMISING REACH &RESULTS TOMMEE TIPPEE SLEEPFEST Tommee Tippee’s SleepFest, was a day festival for parents which offered useful hints and tips about how to improve their child’s (and their own!) sleep. Hosted over one day in East London the event was accessible for a limited number of parents, but generated content which would help lots of parents nationwide! In order to amplify the reach of the event and maximise impact and ROI, we worked with our sister agencies Stir (PR) and Connects (influencer) to deliver a truly integrated event, which was accessible for Tommee Tippee’s wider audience. A pre-launch PR campaign built a story around Tommee Tippee as sleep experts with a supporting influencer campaign generating interest for the event across parent social networks. Integration with press and social channels allowed us to prove the value of the event by capturing information on reach and share of voice in press, as well as impressions and engagements across social media. This integrated approach meant that we over delivered by +102% on KPI for content generated about the event. 15
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  KEY TAKE OUTS BEEMOTIVE BE AUTHENTIC BE INNOVATIVE BE INTEGRATED Appeal to right brain thinking which speaks to your audiences’ emotional and creative side Deliver experiences which benefit your audience and their community Audiences will be craving new experiences, seize this opportunity and get innovative! Consider how you can incorporate digital to increase the reach and impact of your event 16
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  /1 2 LIVE EXPERIENCE PRINCIPLES 17
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  /1 3 At SEEN wespecialise in creating environments and experiences that become the living and breathing embodiment of your brand, and are designed to make a person feel something specific; whether that be trust, excitement or curiosity, the feeling that an experience creates is central to a brand’s ability to connect with its audience. Identifyingthe emotional response,we want to create and using our EmotionalResponse Methodology to determine how we can deliver that response within our live experiences, enhances the quality of our thinking, our creativity, our execution – and most importantly our results. Here are 4 principles we use to develop our event concepts, 1. STORYTELLING 2. EMBODIMENT 3. THE 5 SENSES 4. THE POWER OF THE SQUARE LIVE EXPERIENCE PRINCIPLES 18
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  /1 4 INTERESTED IN WORKINGTOGETHER? Thanks for reading our report. We would love to find out more about you and the challenges your brand is currently facing. As well as demonstrate how experiential marketing and SEEN’s emotional response methodology can help you to create meaningful connections with consumers, driving advocacy and sales. Contact Harriet Jones on: harriet.jones@seenpresents.com T: 07965502286 www.seenpresents.com 19